Senior MPs condemn banks quango chair over dodging questions July 14, 2025 Senior MPs have blasted the chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), the banks quango which settles complaints made by consumers against banks, for obstructing scrutiny after Abby Thomas was dismissed as chief executive. Zahida Manzoor, Baroness Manzoor, the Tory peer who leads governance of the public body settling complaints between consumers and banks, has [...]
Kemi Badenoch backs costly triple lock pension as ‘Conservative policy’ July 10, 2025 Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has doubled down in her backing of the triple lock pension after the UK’s fiscal watchdog said its costs on the state had soared far higher than expected. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned this week that the Labour government could not afford the triple lock pension along with other [...]
Reform top the polls but voters cool on Nigel Farage July 9, 2025 Reform UK continues to ride high in the opinion polls – climbing 16 points since last year’s election – yet voters appeared to have cooled on Nigel Farage as new Morning Wire polling suggests he’s lost some of his shine. A post-government slump in support for the Conservative Party and lack of approval for the [...]
Top Tory slams FCA ‘mission creep’ after misconduct rules expanded July 3, 2025 Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith has slammed the UK financial watchdog for expanding rules on “non-financial misconduct”, which spans from bullying to harassment and violence. In a post on X the former city minister described the new regulations as “grade A mission creep”, as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) broadened their reach to apply to [...]
Badenoch: Welfare ‘fudge’ driven by ‘panic not principle’ July 1, 2025 Kemi Badenoch has branded Labour’s welfare reforms a “fudge” that will fail to curb the government’s spiralling welfare bill on health and disability benefits. MPs are set to vote on work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall’s welfare bill aimed at getting more inactive Brits back into the national workforce by changing eligibility for personal independence [...]
Kemi Badenoch: I’ll only support welfare bill if government pledges no tax rises June 27, 2025 Kemi Badenoch has said she would only support Labour’s welfare bill if the government pledges not to raise taxes further at the next budget. More than 100 Labour MPs had threatened to vote against the bill in its original form amid concerns over a reduction in personal independence payments to their constituents. The government has [...]
Tory MP Patrick Spencer denies sexual assault charges June 16, 2025 Conservative MP Patrick Spencer has denied two counts of sexual assault, alleged to have been committed at Soho’s exclusive Groucho Club. The MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday where he confirmed his date of birth and full name before submitting a not guilty plea to the charges. [...]
Free Thinking: Mel Stride on Farage’s ‘fantasy’ economics and why Tories are different June 13, 2025 Morning Wire's Opinion and Features Editor sits down with Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride for a very special episode of Free Thinking.
Conservatives defy claims the party is ‘dying’ with millions in fundraising June 10, 2025 The Tory party raised £3.4m in donations in the first quarter of 2025, surpassing all other parties’ fundraising efforts and defying claims the party was ‘dying’. In addition to short money – meaning taxpayer and electoral commission funding – the Tories received £5.5m in the three months to end March. In the last quarter of [...]
Businesses should dictate on burka ban, Badenoch says June 8, 2025 Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said employers should be able to decide if their staff can wear burkas in the workplace. Badenoch also said people who come to her constituency surgeries must remove their face coverings “whether it’s a burka or a balaclava”. Badenoch posted a video on X of part of her interview with [...]